1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transportable air purifier for removing pollutants from compressed air for supplied air respirators and otherwise for use in industrial applications.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Objectives of the Invention
Employee safety has become increasingly important in manufacturing and processing operations in recent years with the enactment of new state and federal laws. Particular attention has been directed to the air breathed by employees during maintenance, handling and removal of hazardous materials such as various solvents or asbestos which has minute particles that are harmful when airborne. In order to protect employees from such hazardous particulate and gaseous matter, supplied air respirators are furnished to workers which are conventionally connected to a stationary central source for purified air. Such conventional purifier sources may have a disposable cartridge which must be periodically changed and replaced. Other purifiers of the permanent type usually provide for a regeneration cycle and usually have two filter cylinders or chambers whereby when one cylinder is being regenerated the other cylinder is simultaneously used to purify the required air. As different employees often on different shifts continually use such purifying systems, the purifiers frequently are not properly attended and the filters therein become saturated with pollutants and lose their filtration and absorption qualities, thus allowing harmful pollutants to pass through to the respirators worn by the workers. While some of the prior art purifying devices include monitors with signals to identify expended filters, such purifying devices are oftentimes inconvenient to maintain and expensive to service and are therefore neglected, creating a health hazard for the workers.
With the aforesaid problems and disadvantages associated with conventional air purifying devices, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide a dual mode air purifier and method for purifying compressed air having purification and regeneration modes which is convenient and simple to operate.
It is also an objective of the invention to provide a compressed air purifier in which the regeneration mode has both heating and cooling cycles.
Yet another objective is to provide a purifying device which has a cart which allows the purifier to be easily and conveniently moved by a single worker during use as needed and after use to another location if desired for regeneration purposes.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a dual mode air purifier which includes an air filter having a heater attached thereto for providing hot purge air directly to the air filter medium during the regeneration cycle to quickly and efficiently regenerate the filter medium.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide an economical air purifier and method which has the capacity for continued use during a typical work shift and which can thereafter be moved by a single employee to another location for regeneration during off-hours.
Also, another objective of the present invention is to provide a dual mode air purifier and method which can be correctly operated by relatively unskilled employees after only minimal training.
Other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed description of the invention is presented below.